Cobk-machibte



HARVEY LOCKE, QF SOUTH BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

CORK-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 24,471, dated June 21, 1859.

To all whom it may concer/n.;

Be it known that I, HARVEY LocKE, of South Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and Improved Machine for Cutting Corks for Bottles and other Vessels; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description o-f the same, reference being had to the annexed drawing, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure l, is a longitudinal vertical section of my invention, taken in the line a?, a1, in Fig. 3. Fig. 2, is a transverse vertical section of ditt'o, taken in the lin-e y, y, in Fig. 3. Fig. 3, is ahorizontal section of ditto, taken in the line a, a, in Fig. 1.

Similar letters of reference indicate correspoi/iding parts in the several figures.

This invention consists in a novel arrangement of clamps, knives, adjustable mandrel and head, arranged for joint operation, substantially as hereinafter shown, whereby corks for bottles and other vessels may be formed or cut very expeditiously, in a perfect manner, and by an automatic operation throughout.

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand and construct my invention, I will proceed to describe it.

A, represents al rectangular framing which may be constructed in any proper manner to support the working parts of the machine.

B, is a shaft which is placed transversely on the upper part of the framing A, and has a wheel C, attached to its outer end, said wheel, as will be presently shown, performing the oflices of both a crank wheel and a cam. To the outer side of the wheel C, one end of a connecting rod D, is attached, and the opposite end ofsaid rod is connected to a knife stock E, which is fitted on a guide rod F, and is moved back and forth thereon, by the rotation of wheel C. The knife stock E, has four knives a, b, c, CZ, attached to it. The knives a, b, are in a horizontal plane and have oblique or diagonal cutting edges, and at the front and back end of the stock, as shown clearly in Fig. 3. The knife c, is also in a horizontal plane and is placed at the side of the stock, as shown also in Fig. 3. To the under side of the knife stock the cutter (l, is' attached, which is of tubular form, see Figs. 1, and 2.

Gr, is a sliding or reciprocating plate which is placed on the upper part of the framing A, and has a clamp H, fitted in it..

This clamp H, is formed of two curved jaws e, e, which work on pivots f, j', and are closed by means of a bent lever g, and a wedgeshaped projection z', which is in line with the space between they lower ends of the levers` The lever g, has its fulcrum pin j, in the plate G, and a rod I, is attached to its upper end, said rod being connected to a slide rod J, which is operated by an irregular-shaped groove c, in theinner side of the wheel C, and in which groove 7c, one end of the rod J, is fitted. The form of the groove fr, is shown clearly in Fig. l, the red J, is shown in Fig. 3. In the inner side of the wheel C, there is also anirregular groove Z, in which one end of a lever K, is fitted, m, is the fulcrum pin of lever K, and to said lever one end of a rod L, is attached the opposite ends of said rod being connected to aI lever M, which works on a fulcrum pin n, in said frame. The upper end of the lever M, is just above the top of the framing A, and a jaw n', is at its upper end, said jaw being directly opposite a corresponding stationary jaw 0, attached to the framing.

The outer end of the lever K, is forked and is fitted in a groove in a mandrel N, which is fitted or has` its bearings in uprights p, 29, attached to a bar C, which is placed in the upper part of the framing A, and secured therein by a fulcrum pin g, and

set screw r. The mandrel N, is rotated by a belt s, from the wheel C, said belt passing over guide pulleys t. A head u', is attached to the inner part of the bar O, said head being in line with the end of the mandrel N. On the inner part of the bar O, there is also placed a wheel o, the periphery of which may be coated with emery or any suitable substance to serve as a Sharpener. rSimilar wheels fw, w, are also placed in bars af, a', directly above the wheel o, all the wheels w, w, o, being driven by belts from pulleys o, on a shaft P, which is rotated by the same belt s, that rotates the mandrel N.

The plate G moves in a transverse direction on the framing A, and it is operated in one direction, that indicated by arrow l, in Fig. 3, by a lever Q, which is actuated by projections cl', on the inner side of the wheel C, see Figs. l and 3, and is operated in the other direction, as indicated by arrow 2, by a lever R, which is actuated in consequence of the Wheel C, by any proper means and the in the spout S, rests on lower end of the bar or slab T, shown in red, a stop g, attached to the stationary jaw 0. At each vibration of the knife stock E, a piece of cork, af, is cut from the slab or bar T by the cutters a, b, alternately, the lower` part of the slab or bar T, being grasped between the jaws fa, o,

just previous to each cut, so that the pieces a, are held by the jaws u', 0, as they are cut from the slab or bar, the aw Wb, being actuated by the rod I, slide J, and groove 7c, in

Y Vwheel (3V-while the cutters a, b, are in the act of cutting, or immediately after, the plate G, is moved in the direction of arrow 2, by lever R, so that the clamp H, will be 4below the piece of cork between the jaws u, o. The pieces a* of cork, as they are cut f rom the slab or bar T, are of rectangular form but they are rounded or have their angles removed by the tubular knife or cutter d, which has a cutting edge at each end and act immediately after each knife a, Z1. After the pieces are cut from the slab or bar by the knives a, b, and rounded by the knife d, the clamp H, `grasps them, the levers e, e, of which are actuated or closed by the action of the wedge-shaped projection i, of the lever g, the latter being actuated by the rod I, slide rod J, and groove c, in wheel C. The pieces are then by the movement of the plate Gr, in the directionof arrow Z, which movement is given it by lever Q, brought directly in line with mandrel N, and the head u, and said `mandrel isV then by the action Vof lever K, thrown forward to press into the piece of cork between the jaws or levers e, e, of clamp H, and rotate the same, the clamp H, opening by the action of lever g. Asthe piece of cork is rotated by the mandrel N, the knife c, passes along and cuts it in perfectly conical form, the pieces of cork, being in fact turned, the conical form being due to the inclined position of the mandrel N, relatively with .the cutting edge of the knife c, and this inclination maybe made greater or VVless,` according to the degree of taper desired to be given the corks, by giving the bar O, a greater or less inclination in the framing. The piece of cork that is cut from the slab or bar T, at one movement of the knife stock E, is turned at thesucceeding.

movement. The knife 0, is kept in perfect working order by the Sharpeners fv, lw, fw, be-` tweenwhich it passes at each forward move` ment. As the finished corks fall from the mandrel N, which occurs as the mandrel N, is drawn back, the corks fall on a lever bf', and actuate an index 0*, that traverses over a dial plate d, see Fig. l, and registers the number of corks cut by the machine.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, isl. The employment or use of a reciprocating knife-stock E, when provided with necessary knives and arranged in combination with a rotating `mandrel N, traversing clamp H, and feed spout or trough S, 'so that as the knife stock moves back and forth, pieces of cork af, will be cut from the bar or slab T., and said pieces turned in suitable conicalrform, substantially as describedL 2. I claim, in` connection with the reciprocating knife-stock E, attaching the mandrel N, and head u, to an adjustable bar O, fitted in. the framing A, and arranged substantially as described so as to admit of the adjusting of the pieces of cork a*,.more or less obliquely with the knife o, and vary the taper of the corks as may be desired.

3. I claim placing the clamp H, in a reciprocating plate G, operated by the lever Q, from the wheel C, and the lever R, from the reciprocating knife stock `E, substantially as shown and described forthe purpose of giving the traversing movement to said clamp to `convey the pieces of cork ak, from the jaws u', o, to the mandrel N.

HARVEY LOCKE. i

Witnesses:

S. O. KEITH,

' OLIVER EATEN. 

